Sick
by Nigotta
Summary: Sasuke has begun to take bad care of himself now that he is back in the village. His health is declining, and he gets sick frequently. Then, one day Sakura and Naruto show up on his doorstep, and drastic measures are taken. The rest is left to fate.
1. Chapter 1

AN: So this is probably going to be a short story, a few chapters of so. I've already got part of chapter 2 written. It's just something I'll plot out in my free time. Please read and review if you would like me to continue on! Also, I'm thinking it's going to be NaruSasu.

Chapter 1: Sick

His whole body ached as if it had been stretched past its limits repeatedly, muscles spasmodically clenching and straining as sweat slicked across his skin. To add to it, the fierce rolling of his stomach was not helping matters much. He had already gone to the bathroom to throw up at least 15 separate times since waking at about five in the morning, and it was only nine now, the sky still a pale blue and the sun partially concealed by trees.

He kept replaying the last mission over and over in his head. His Anbu squad had been assigned an assassination mission, which wasn't so bad really. Though he couldn't say he particularly enjoyed it, Sasuke was way past being squeamish about killing people. The real problem was that he hadn't slept a wink in about a month, his nightmares were absolutely hellish, and the man they had been sent to kill was a subordinate of Orochimaru's, the person who was the instigator for a terrible period in his life and the reason why he was so full of self loathing. The man who was to be killed had been unremarkable to say the least, but he had talked as if in rapture about some of the worse things Sasuke had done while with the snake sanin and the way the man's eyes had basically undressed him gave him the creeps even now, at least a week later. Just thinking about it made his stomach flip.

Shooting up from the dark blue couch he had been sprawled upon, Sasuke jumped cleanly over the dusty coffee table in the center of his living room and darted into the quaint powder room near the main staircase. The sound of his retching echoed noisily throughout the large, empty house, and only worsened his shitty mood. Once finished, he flushed the toilette and wiped his mouth off with the back of his hand before slumping against the cool porcelain. It felt so good against his heated and flushed skin.

Ever since returning to the village things had steadily gotten worse and worse. After killing Orochimaru and then Itachi, he had been found and dragged back by Naruto and the remainder of team 7, but to him it still felt like he was running. He was so tired that every part of his body hurt, and whenever he closed his eyes he was afraid of what he would see lurking in the darkness behind his eyelids. When he did manage to get an hour or so of sleep in, he would always dream about the Valley of the End, subsequently bringing his much needed rest to a premature end.

Sasuke could never actually remember anything from the dream itself except for the sinking feeling of dread in his stomach and the memory of Naruto's eyes dulling as his hand shot through the brighter boy's chest. Whenever he woke up he could almost taste the metallic tang of the chidori in his mouth, and sometimes he could even feel the way Naruto's heart had fluttered weakly against the inside of his wrist. It was one of his most frequent and worst nightmares, and after waking up he would be physically sick for the whole day. He just couldn't forgive himself for his past actions, and he doubted he ever would. It would haunt him for the rest of his miserable existence.

Not only that, but Itachi was finally dead, his lifelong goal accomplished. He had never really thought about the 'after' once his revenge had been carried out. He supposed he hadn't ever planned on there even being an after. Was he supposed to just live on happily now that he had slain his own brother? It only served to make him just like the bastard, familial blood staining his hands. As a child he had always adored and looked up to his Aniki and had wanted so much to be just like him, to gain approval and make his father proud. Now it seemed the wish had been granted, though a bit too late. They both had turned their backs on their village, and Sasuke had left behind the only person he had ever really cared for outside of his family, just to return time and time again to repeatedly hurt him and make an attempt on the other's life. Even though he was back for good he still felt alone and lost like the little boy he had once been, nothing more than a machine going through the motions of living. The only thing that kept his mind off the nightmares and the hollowness inside him were missions.

Now 18 and part of Anbu, Sasuke often went on team missions. His squad consisted of Naruto, Sakura, Neji, Shikamaru, and Ino. It was probably one of the only things he looked forward to anymore as it was the only time he got to be around Naruto. Said ninja would only talk to him when it was absolutely necessary, and they were often only paired together during combat so there wasn't really much time in between for Sasuke to try and repair what little camaraderie he had managed to destroy by leaving, but it was soothing all the same just to be around the other boy. He simply enjoyed listening to Naruto laugh and joke with the others even when he was not included, which he usually wasn't. He could easily think back to a time when he'd thought he would never see nor hear Naruto laugh again, and it was nothing short of a relief to realize he had been wrong.

After every mission they were usually allowed a week or so off before the next one was assigned, but for Sasuke that was too much time. Too much time left alone and to his self deprecating thoughts. He knew he was being pathetic, but he couldn't find the will in him to care. Instead of taking the time off like the rest of his team, he would sign up for solo missions and always make it back just in time for the next group assignment. He was probably working himself too hard, but who cared? Certainly not himself. If he could help it, he tried to stay out of the village as often as possible. As long as he wasn't alone for long in this shell of a house then everything was fine. He remembered to eat occasionally, slept when he thought he was too exhausted to dream, and spent all the rest of his time training, on missions, or being sick. Exactly like he was now.

Sasuke's stomach clenched another time and he turned his head towards the polished white toilette bowl, but there was nothing left in him to throw up so he just dry-heaved repeatedly until he thought he would choke up a lung. Fuck, this always happened when he wasn't able to go on a mission during the usual down time. Something about Tsunade thinking he was wearing himself out or something. What a joke. It was either that or this, throwing up like some pitiful creature. Gods, he was so disgusted with himself. He knew he was being weak and self centered, dwelling on all his emotional baggage and problems like he was.

Sasuke stood up with the support of the sink and slumped against it before turning on the faucet and rinsing the acrid taste from his mouth. Quickly splashing his face with the cool water, he kept his gaze away from the mirror and attempted to walk out of the bathroom, but his legs were unable to hold him up properly. His head spun from dehydration and lack of proper sleep, so he just slumped against the door frame and crawled on his hands and knees back to the sofa, pride be damned. No one was around to see him anyway.

Shuffling back into the warm embrace of his more favored piece of furniture, Sasuke remembered all the way back to when his mother used to sing him lullabies on the faded blue couch. He had been a young and stubborn child, unwilling to obey his bedtime. Now, though, he refused to let his eyes droop for fear of the nightmares. That was what had gotten him into this mess in the first place. When he was a child the fabric of the sofa had always smelled of his mother's perfume and the sandal wood incense she had liked to burn in the house. Now it only smelled of dust and the remnants of his childhood. He watched impassively as the light slowly changed in the room until he was sure it was dusk, another uneventful day in the life and times of Sasuke Uchiha.

To keep his mind occupied and away from the worst of his thoughts, he thought about Naruto. He hadn't really known his true feelings towards his teammate until after Itachi was dead and Naruto had found him bleeding and half-dead himself. The realization had come while everyone else had been asleep that first night and the campfire had been just embers. The stars had been bright in the dark and with nothing better to do, Sasuke had spent most of the time watching them shift in the sky. His wrists and ankles had been chained with chakra restraints and though he had been given a pallet to lie on, he instead chose to lean against the nearest tree, ever cautious and alert. Slowly but surely his attention had drifted until his eyes were on the sleeping form of Naruto, watching in the half light as his chest rose with every breath. Every once and awhile, hidden blue eyes would move beneath fragile tan eyelids, caught in the thrall of a dream.

Sasuke knew that Hawk was following them and would probably approach him soon and try to free him from his restraints. He had entertained the thought of allowing them to do so and leaving with them, once again running from Naruto and the village, but his heart had skipped a beat and clenched painfully, the muscle telling him no. He couldn't do it. He couldn't keep running anymore. Now that Naruto had him, he couldn't find the will to keep fighting. He could no longer deny the feeling that being around Naruto created within him. In the end he had been strong enough to kill his beloved Aniki, but he was weak when it came to Naruto.

Now, lying on the old sofa of his childhood, sick to his stomach and wishing that he could just die in his sleep, Sasuke realized he liked the way Naruto's eyes narrowed when he smiled. His blushes were absolutely adorable and his voice could easily take on a low and husky quality when he was serious or sad, as if he had been smoking for years. Sasuke found it oddly appealing. When he was nervous or lying, he would talk really fast and use large words, and he also favored his right hand in combat. The blonde happened to be a few inches taller than him, and he was practically made of muscle. Where Sasuke was slim, fast and graceful, Naruto was strong with broad shoulders and agile like a cat. The other could easily keep up with him in a fight and technically they were among the stronger ranks of ninja in the village.

All of team 7 had trained under the legendary sannin, which meant they were basically the next in line for the title. Sasuke had never really thought about it before, but he wasn't sure he wanted to be titled the snake sannin as Orochimaru had been. The thought of being anything like Orochimaru made him nauseous all over again. Just when he was sure he was going to have to move back to the bathroom, he heard a rather loud rapping sound.

It startled Sasuke so much in his feverish state that he gave a small yelp and promptly fell from his perch on the sofa. Perplexed, he raised himself up onto his elbows, enjoying the cool feel of the hardwood floor against his exposed skin, and glanced around cautiously before the sound repeated itself. Blinking, he realized someone was knocking on his door. Well that was new.

Grumbling to himself about random visitors, he got shakily to his feet and limped towards the door in the front hall. His muscles were all stiff from being sick, and he cursed whoever had disturbed him. Not bothering to see who was on his doorstep, he just yanked open the door, prepared to glare at whomever was on the other side until they left, and was startled to see Sakura and Naruto both standing across the threshold.

Sakura smiled beatifically at him, her emerald green eyes sparkling in the approaching dusk. Naruto just turned his head to the side and away from him. He hadn't even bothered to look at Sasuke when he opened the door. This fact made Sasuke's chest hurt which in turn made his head hurt even more than it already was. Cursing his stupid feelings (It always only made him feel worse, dammit!), he raised a silent eyebrow in question.

"Hello Sasuke-kun. Naruto and I stopped by to tell you that our team has an extra week off, so we won't be going on a mission any time soon." Sakura's voice was high and cheerful, nothing like the fan girl squeal of her younger years but still grating enough to pierce through Sasuke's aching head. He didn't actually dislike the girl. In fact she was probably the only one who talked to Sasuke anymore, but sometimes she could be a little annoying.

Clearing his throat, he answered. "Thank you for the notification Sakura. I appreciate it." His voice came out sounding raw from all the vomiting and misuse, and he winced at the horrible pain it caused.

Sakura's smile slipped off her face and was replaced with a worried frown. "Sasuke-kun, are you okay? You don't sound too good."

"No. I'm fine. Just a cough." Internally he snorted. Well, that was a lie. He hadn't really been doing that much coughing.

"You're sick?" The deeper voice startled Sasuke, causing him to jump slightly, and he turned to look at Naruto. How long had it been since the other had last spoken to him?

Frowning slightly at having to repeat himself, he answered."No. No, I'm not sick, just a little under the weather." His voice still came out rough and it was painful to say the words, but he choked them out anyway. Maybe he should have drunk more water or something, he mused.

Naruto's eyes narrowed and he placed a large hand on the center of Sasuke's chest and pushed, forcing him out of the doorway. "Same shit, different pile, now move out of the way so Sakura can check you out." At the moment, Sasuke was too weak to really protest any further, and his throat hurt too much to get into an argument, so he relented and moved back towards the living room to sit on the couch. Standing up for so long was making his head spin.

As soon as he was sitting comfortably, Sakura was kneeling in front of him, her back facing the coffee table. Her green eyes peered curiously up at him, and she raised her hand from off her pink clad lap to feel his forehead.

Sasuke flinched beneath the sudden and unexpected contact before relaxing against the cool hand. It had been so long since someone had actually touched him in any way that was non-violent. It made his heart beat pick up slightly, his body expecting some sort of pain to follow even when his mind knew there was no danger.

"Golly, Sasuke-kun! You're burning up!" Sakura said, her voice rising in pitch, her hands moving down to feel the glands in Sasuke's neck.

"Naruto, go get some water. It appears he is slightly dehydrated," She said, her voice all business as she continued to assess the body beneath her fingers. "and don't make it too cold!" She called after him.

The sound of footsteps moving further into the house sounded behind Sasuke, and then he heard the muffled racket of cabinets opening and closing. The sound ceased as Naruto found the correct one, and the sound of flowing water took its place as the cup was filled. As soon as he came back with the glass of water, Sakura removed her hands and took it from him. Extending it out to Sasuke she said, "Drink it slowly. You may have a bit of a sore throat."

Nodding slightly in assent, Sasuke took it from her, relishing in the cool feeling of the glass before taking a small sip. The pain was almost immediate and surprisingly made his eyes water. Well that couldn't be a good sign.

Coughing wetly, he set the glass forcefully onto the coffee table, some of the water spilling from its confines to slip down the side of the glass and over his fingers. So this was why he never drank water when he got sick like this. Well fuck Sakura for making him realize the atrocity of a sore throat.

"Hmm… Sasuke maybe you should take some medicine or something. Do you have any in your medicine cabinet?" Sakura asked voice still serious.

"No. When I was-"He interrupted himself, clearing his throat painfully. "I am immune to most medicines and other such things as a result of certain….testing. It would do no good." Orochimaru had preformed many different experiments on him. As a result, Sasuke was no stranger to pain or sickness. In the end his body had built up immunity to most poisons and even things as miniscule as cough medicine.

Suddenly Naruto was standing right behind Sakura, eyes flashing furiously. He spoke in that a deep husky voice that sent shivers down Sasuke's spine. He couldn't say if it was from fear or excitement.

"You mean to say that that bastard of a snake _tested _on you as if you were a lab rat! How Stupid do yo-"

"Naruto, that is quite enough! Calm down!" Sakura stated in a stern voice. She turned her gaze away from Naruto's angry one and back into Sasuke's startled black eyes. He had known that Naruto would find such a thing terribly disgusting and probably pathetic, but the knowledge did nothing to help the burning in his chest at the strong disapproval. He refused to believe that it had anything to do with Naruto himself. It was just another symptom of some sort. In his mind he rolled his eyes. _Just pile on the denial._

"It appears that you are really sick Sasuke. I think that maybe we should take you to Tsunade for a full check up of some sort if what you say about... the medicine, is true." Sakura's eyes were completely serious and seemed to say that she would be willing to use force if he objected. Naruto backed away as she said it, moving to lean against the wall behind her in an obvious show of agreement. However, this did not deter Sasuke from disagreeing.

"No." If Tsunade did do a full checkup of some sort on him, she would probably notice his lack of sleep and other such things. If that happened she could take him off missions! He couldn't be left alone all the time like that with nothing to do! Otherwise, he wouldn't be accountable for his actions. To add to that, he really did not want Naruto, or Sakura for that matter, to know how pathetic he had gotten on his own since returning to the village.

"But Sasuke-," Sakura began.

"NO."

"Please just-"

"I said no, Sakura"

She seemed to sigh as if in defeat, but when she looked back up at him, her clear green eyes were far from resigned.

"I really did not want to have to do this, but Tsunade said that if you refused…"

"What are you-," Sakura cut him off.

"Naruto, syringe." She held her hand out and slightly behind her towards Naruto who moved forward. Sasuke could hear his sandals on the hardwood floor but did not remove his eyes from Sakura's face. He was too stunned to do anything else. So Tsunade had suspected something all along. That was why she banned him from the solo missions! Oh, this was not good.

Before Sasuke could fully comprehend the situation there was a sharp sting in his upper thigh where Sakura had effortlessly slid the needle through his thin ninja issue pants and into his skin. He reached out and grasped her wrist harshly, preparing to pull it out, but Sakura kept it there with the use of her chakra infused strength. He felt her smoothly push the plunger and then everything started to get oddly light and fuzzy.

Sakura slid the syringe from his skin, and placed the contaminated needle into a small plastic bag as Sasuke leaned further back into the couch, everything spinning above him. She stood and moved around the coffee table and as soon as she was out of the way, Naruto was there replacing her. Sasuke tried to focus on his face, but all he saw was a blurry mix of blue and gold before he squeezed his eyes shut to keep the room from spinning.

He felt a warm breath ghost over his skin before burning hot hands slipped beneath his knees and shoulders and he was swung into the air. The feeling didn't last long before he was pressed firmly into what felt like a wall. The last few things Sasuke registered were the immense warmth that enveloped him and comforting vibration against his ear.

"He's so light. It must be true what Tsunade said." The voice was deep and sad, reverberating inside his body.

"Don't worry. She figured it out just in time. He'll be fine." This one sounded sure, but wavered slightly.

"I hope your right."

Then Sasuke was out like a light, falling into his own darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

AN: I know it is an intolerably short chapter! Please bear with me!

Chapter 2: Sentenced

A red thread.

That was all Sasuke could see in the complete darkness of the corridor. There was darkness ahead of him and darkness behind him. To the sides, he could feel the rough mud walls against his calloused hands when he reached out to get his bearings in the black that surrounded him. Instinctively he knew he was within Orochimaru's underground lair and panic bubbled from within him. Wasn't that bastard dead? He couldn't touch him now. He was dead and Sasuke was in Konoha.

Right?

The blood red thread trembled against the dark. It was suspended in the air, bisecting whatever hallway he was in. Sasuke looked behind him and peered into the endlessness where the thread continued on, attached to nothing that he could see.

It trembled again, pulsing, urging him to move forward. With trembling fingers he gently grasped it, and began to walk forward and into the dark. The thread felt smooth, warm and fragile between his fingers. He made sure not to let go, afraid it would drift away into the dark and he would be left without it's guidance.

It seemed he walked onward forever. Occasionally he would pass burning sconces on the wall. The sudden light would display the patterned walls and rough floors, further solidifying the knowledge that he was within the labyrinth of Orochimaru's. He managed to restrain the anxiety that plagued him at the affirmation with a well practiced mask of aloofness. Suddenly he saw a light at the end of the never ending tunnel, and he quickened his step eager to feel the sun against his skin and find what the red thread was attached to.

As he drew nearer he noticed the silhouette of a person standing between him and the light. At first he thought it was Orochimaru or even Kabuto and fear grappled with his quickly beating heart. But slowly the features became known and Sasuke recognized Naruto standing before him, his expression blank. The red thread spanned the distance between them and was wound tightly around Naruto's hands and fingers, binding his wrists together and cutting his circulation off.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something, anything, like call him a dobe for getting tangled up in the thread, but his lips would not move. He couldn't move his body at all. Naruto stood what seemed like miles away from him and, in slow motion, he started to turn away from Sasuke and into the light that still shone behind him. Sasuke's motionless hand was still holding the red thread, and he felt it tug as Naruto struggled to move. The whole time, that usually expressive face was blank and empty.

The thread that bound Naruto's hands began to bite deeper and deeper into his tanned skin until it drew blood, but there was no flicker of pain on his scarred face. With a sharp and vicious tug, the thread finally broke. It made a loud snapping noise that Sasuke could feel in his body. It echoed down the long corridor. Still he could not move. The thread fell from Naruto's mangled hands and drifted like a ghost to the ground. Without a word or even a glance, Naruto turned away and walked into the sunshine leaving Sasuke immobile and cold within the dark tunnel.

The thread fell slack in his hands and began to unwind itself until it was nothing but bloody fibers on the ground, the remnants of a bond he had hoped would never die.

Sasuke shot up into a sitting position, panic bubbling in his chest. He felt unattached; as if he were floating away and nothing would ever bring him back. His fingernails bit so hard into the palm of his hands that blood smeared onto the white sheet covering his body. He bit his lip to keep the scared screams at bay.

Calming his breath enough to keep from hyperventilating, he tried to take stock of where he was and what the situation was, but before he could fully register what was happening, he felt the usual bile rise up in his throat. He struggled with himself, trying to figure out where he was or at least find a bathroom.

It appeared he was in a hospital room, so that probably meant that Tsunade had checked him out. Realizing that the sedative Sakura must have given him was the cause of that terribly realistic dream, he shot out of the bed and pulled open the first door he came to which luckily lead into the adjoining bathroom.

He threw up until he saw pink in his bile, and even then he didn't stop. His body pushed and heaved, trying to purge all of the feelings he didn't want out of him. Sasuke knew that he should stop but he couldn't. He felt so hot and his head was pounding but he didn't quit.

He wasn't sure how long he had been there hunched over the toilette. It could have been hours or minutes, when he felt hands grip his shoulders. Someone brushed the sweaty hair back out of his face with hot fingertips as Sasuke continued to gag up rust into the toilette.

"Sasuke your safe, stop now."

He tried to pull himself together and pull away from whomever's arms but they only pulled him closer. He was shaking so hard that his teeth clicked together, and his head swam so that he couldn't focus on anything. He couldn't believe he was conducting himself in such a way in front of someone.

"Leggo." He rasped out, pain clawing up his throat.

"No." Came the stubborn reply.

Sasuke shook harder.

"Hey, hey, please calm down, you're safe now. Whatever dream you had, it wasn't real, I promise."

Whomever sounded worried, almost fearful, which Sasuke was surprised at. He was pretty sure no one really liked him much these days. If he just focused he knew he could figure out who it was, but he couldn't think through the painful fog in his head.

Whomever just held him harder, crushing him against their chest as if they were trying to stop the tremors that rocked through him.

"Baby, please." It was a whisper, and all Sasuke could get out of it was the s at the end of the please. It dragged itself out into a snake's hiss in his clouded mind, and he shuddered.

Slowly, Sasuke ordered himself to quit shaking. He let his body go limp, slumping back into Whomever's arms where it was warm and he felt safe from the nightmare.

"There you go. See, you're safe."

Distantly Sasuke felt himself being carried and placed back into the hospital bed. He thought that perhaps he saw a smudge of black and a glimpse of blue before his eyes slipped closed.

The next time Sasuke woke, it was to the murmur of voices.

"—worse than you thought. I would even go so far as to say that some of his medical symtoms could be the cause of Major Depressive Disorder or something of the like. We can't just leave him by himself again, not until we can be sure he's okay on his own!"

"I know, but who the hell can I have watch him? He would eat my nurses alive!"

Sasuke blinked his eyes open and groggily turned toward Sakura and Tsunade who stood over by the window on the far side of the room. Realizing their conversation was no longer private, Sakura turned and smiled.

"Ah, Sasuke-kun, you're awake! I'm so happy, how do you feel?" She brushed a length of her hair back from her face, and continued to smile that nauseatingly fake smile.

Sasuke could only blink, a bit confused. Sakura had never been one to hide her true emotions like that, but he decided he didn't care enough to break his asshole persona and ask what was wrong.

"I would probably feel a whole lot better if you hadn't sedated me." He mumbled, still too groggy to really get mad about it.

Sakura pretended she hadn't heard.

"Sasuke, you have not been doing an adequate job of taking care of yourself. You're underweight and you were dehydrated to the point of serious repercussions. Luckily we intervened when we did, because your blood pressure couldn't have afforded to drop any lower than it already was.

"You've overworked yourself, and that mingled with the fact that you haven't been eating correctly has caused your body to begin to eat the glucose stored in your muscles. I don't think you know how serious this is. With the amount of physical exertion we, as ninjas, undertake causes enough stress on the body as it is. You could have fallen into a coma!"

By the end of her tirade, Sakura's face had grown slightly flushed. Her hands were twisted in the fabric of her pants.

All the while, Tsunade had remained by the window. She evaluated the lack of emotion on Sasuke's face, but couldn't really determine if it meant he might have a mental disorder such as depression. The brat never showed emotion anyway!

"Me and Sakura have discussed what we think must be done, and we have come to a conclusion. Until I decide differently you will be—"

Just then the hospital door slid open with a clack and Naruto bustled into the room. He looked a little disheveled. His orange jumper was unzipped and hanging off one of his shoulders to reveal a holy black t-shirt beneath and he wasn't wearing his headband so that blonde hair fell into his eyes.

Sakura gave him a disapproving look. "Naruto, we are in a hospital. Please try to be quiet."

He had enough sense to look abashed. "Sorry, I know I should have been here earlier. I ended up falling asleep and—"

"It's okay gaki," Tsunade said," I was just in the middle of letting Sasuke know the decision I had come to as to what was to be done."

Naruto closed his mouth with a click at the irritated tone and ruffled the back of his head in his usual manner.

"Yeah, sorry ba-san."

Shooting a halfhearted glare his way, Tsunade continued on. "As I was saying, Sasuke, until further notice, you will be placed under house arrest."

This caused a bit of incredulity to flicker across Sasuke's face. "With all due respect Hokage-sama, but I don't think that will help matters any." Panic was beginning to snap in his chest. He couldn't be left alone in that house by himself. He would be driven to madness!

"I am truly sorry Uchiha, but this is the best I can do. Until I am sure you are capable of taking care of yourself, I cannot allow you to carry out missions. "Tsunade moved to stand beside Sakura at Sasuke's bedside. "Now, I have given it some thought, and I will also be placing you under someone's care while this lasts."

Sasuke grit his teeth. He was not a child; he did not need to be treated like one. He did not need a fucking baby sitter. He held his tongue, knowing it would get him nowhere.

There was a sly glint in Tsunade's amber eyes. "Naruto, I will leave that task to you."


	3. Chapter 3

AN: To everyone who has reviewed, I give my greatest thanks. I wish I could give more personalized thank yous, but right now I can't find the time. Just know that I have read everyone of your reviews and greatly appreciate it.

Chapter 3

"WHAT!" Naruto all but shouted, jumping up from his relaxed position by the door."Granny, you can't be serious! This is Sasuke! He'll, he'll—I don't know! Murder me and hide me under his floorboards or something!"

Tsunade rolled her eyes."That's enough Naruto, stop being so dramatic. And don't call me granny." She added as an afterthought. Turning back to Sasuke, she was shocked to see how pale he had gone. I mean even paler than his usual pallor. She raised an eyebrow, and snapped her fingers in front of his dazed expression. That brought him back into the present.

Brushing hair out of his eyes with shaking fingers, he turned pleading eyes toward Tsunade. Begging was below him, but pride be damned, he couldn't be cooped up with Naruto of all people for however long this was going to take! "Tsunade, please reconsider. I will take your decision in silence if only you will place me with someone else. Please." He added again through gritted teeth. His voice was just a static whisper as it came out of his sore and damaged throat.

There was a low angry growl as Naruto's eyes narrowed. He stormed over and clutched at the metal railing of Sasuke's hospital bed. "And what the hell is that supposed to mean, teme!" Naruto said, pushing his face close to Sasuke's. Sasuke couldn't believe it. Naruto had actually addressed him! He was even looking him in the eye and had called him teme like in the past. He could feel Naruto's hot breath washing over is lips, and felt his face become hard at the close proximity. Despite this break in the cold shoulder Naruto had been giving him, He didn't like people getting so close to him.

Feeling suddenly nervous, his tongue stuck to the roof of his mouth and he could think of no sharp reply or gibe to offer back. His faltering came off, instead, as a stony glare; for he had narrowed his own eyes at the difficulty he was having of just breathing.

When Naruto got no reply, he grumbled under his breath, "bastard," and backed away from Sasuke and the bed. His eyes flashed with a sudden determination and he turned angrily to leave the room. Hand on the door frame, he glanced over his shoulder at Sasuke, a shard of some emotion lodged in his eyes.

"Fine, I'll be his babysitter." He growled out.

"Good," Tsunade said, "run home and gather some necessities. Then report back here tomorrow morning. I want to keep Sasuke for another night of observation. Tomorrow you will escort Sasuke to his house, and from then on you are not to leave his side for even a moment. Is that understood?"

Upon receiving these orders, Naruto's shoulders sunk from their tense position as if defeated, but his voice was still gruff. "Yes." The word was quickly bitten off in his seeming anger, chewed up and spit out onto the floor.

Then he was gone, his sandals slapping against the linoleum tile as he walked away. There was the sound of the door to the stairway closing as it came echoing down the hall like a phantom, and Sasuke took it as his cue to draw in a deep breath through his nose. He had been holding it for a while there.

Glaring angrily down at the white sheets covering his legs, Sasuke clenched his jaw. He hoped he burned a hole through the fucking things. Damnit, what was he going to do now? Naruto was for sure going to hate him after this. He couldn't believe that he had fucked up yet again.

His frustration and loathing was palpable in the small hospital room. Sakura and Tsunade shared a look of communication. Tsunade's amber eyes flickered that she understood the risks in what she had just done. Sakura's green ones winked that she hoped the possible gains outweighed the risks in the end.

Sighing, Tsunade risked placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. He was as stiff as a board.

"Look, Sasuke. You're going to have to work through you pride here. I know you hold the belief that you can't ask for help, so I'm doing the asking for you. I don't care what your past may hold. You are a ninja of my village and I care about your safety, got it?" Tsunade said gruffly.

Sasuke's glare only softened subtly in response, but she took it as confirmation.

"Look at it as motivation." Tsunade said brightly. "The sooner you get better, the faster you can have your home to yourself again."

Shrugging out of Tsunade's grasp, Sasuke raised his eyes to meet hers. "I don't have a home." He snapped. Hair fell over his face as he looked down at the sheets again. He shook his head subtly. "I have abandoned my home and now it will no longer accept me."He said quietly. His voice was so full of remorse. It sent both Sakura and Tsunade for a loop. Was this still Uchiha Sasuke?

Sasuke just shook his head again. They couldn't understand. His home wasn't a building. It didn't have four walls and a roof. Instead, it had blonde hair and battle scars. It had blue eyes and a loud laugh. They could never understand.

Sasuke glanced suggestively at the door. "If you don't mind, I'm feeling a bit tired." He wasn't saying it just to get rid of them. His body ached with exhaustion.

Tsunade stepped back, still a bit startled. "Yes, o-of course. That should be the sedative I put in your drip." She fingered the clear tubing of the IV that ran down into the needle taped to his wrist. He hadn't noticed it before, when he had first woken up after the dream.

"Get all the rest you can." Tsunade said absently before turning and pulling Sakura with her out the door.

Sasuke was too upset to worry about the sedative, though his face remained stoic. Let the dreams come, he thought. Nothing had stopped them in the past anyway.

The struggling, the suffering, the pain. What had it all been for? Where had it gotten him? His brother was dead. Madara was dead. Just more bodies to throw amongst the countless others of his kin. Who was he? Who had Uchiha Sasuke become, and for what purpose?

Staring at his hands, he realized they were almost as pale as the sheets. He frowned minutely. He had never thought that his life would come to this. He was an Uchiha, proud and strong. But now he was the last remaining Uchiha. And he wasn't very proud, not anymore. He was just a lonely kid, trying to play a role that he thought the world expected of him.

Closing his eyes, he felt his body relax a bit as the sedative began coursing through his veins. _Let the darkness come_, he thought. _Let it wash over me._

So tired. He rolled a bit to his side, eyes blinking off sleep halfheartedly. The room was cast in color. Too tired to care what the color was. It was coming from the gentle whirring of the machines, though.

Blinking a bit more, a person was cast in the light of the machines as well, blending in with the rest of the room, sitting in the chair, the one that was always placed in hospital rooms for visitors' convenience. They were slouched over, just a collection of shadows in the room. The chair was pushed back into the farthest corner. All their features muddled and ran together in the dark half-light. "Asleep," Sasuke mumbled to himself, barely a rasp that caught and clawed at his throat and labored out of his mouth. Whoever they were, they were asleep.

Sasuke grimaced a bit. What a terrible place to sleep. Maybe it was Sakura, or another nurse, someone Tsunade had made to stand guard in case he did anything drastic. He was too heavy right now to be drastic, though. Too, too, umm…what had he been thinking about?

Sleep, it was calling him back in. And he wanted to go back. Back to sleep.

Sasuke bolted upright in bed, hissing as the IV in his wrist caught a bit. Glancing suspiciously around the room, he squinted into the morning sunshine that came flooding in through the window. He sat there a moment, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.

So, what, no dreams? No vomiting? Was it really morning already?

He climbed out of the hospital bed, pulling out the damned IV so that it dripped it's contents onto the tile floor. Walking over to the open window, he stuck his head out and glanced about at the warming land. A wind rustled through the nearby trees and blew back his hair, refreshing him. This…was different. Turning his gaze towards the pale morning sky, he narrowed his eyes. This felt weird. He could come to terms with not getting sick, but having no dreams at all was odd. He had been having nightmares since his academy days.

His suspicion was interrupted as the hospital door slid open, and he whirled around to blink owlishly at a nurse clad in mint scrubs that walked into the room. She seemed equally surprised to see him there as well, despite the fact that he was a patient.

"Uchiha-san, what are you—," her eyes roved around the room and landed on the clear puddle that was forming on the floor. Glancing back up at him, she frowned a bit and gave him a disapproving look.

"Please, get back into your bed, Uchiha-san." She shuffled over to him and started to shoo him away from the window before closing it and lowering the blinds half mast. Frowning, Sasuke glanced over his shoulder at the small woman that was pushing him towards the cot, her fingers sternly wrapped around his shoulder. He gave her a small glare but allowed her to do her job.

She had him sit on the edge of the bed, before replacing the IV needle and sliding it back into the map of veins on his wrist. Then she ordered him to lie back down, which he did without a fuss. He felt a little lost with the absence of what had become a sort of ritual for him and couldn't muster the will to glare at the way she pushed him around.

She bustled about the room for a few minutes, cleaning up the puddle on the floor and pushing a chair back to its proper place beside the bed. Before leaving the room, she checked some sort of paperwork that she had carried into the room with her before checking his drip. Then, without a word she left the room.

Sasuke wasn't sure how long he started at the sterile white of the ceiling. He felt…empty. Though the nightmares were unpleasant, they were all he had left. They were his memories, his past. His life. Without them, he had nothing.

So he blinked up at the ceiling and it stared back. He didn't know where to go from here. He didn't know who to be. The dreams had defined him, had given him something to pass his time with. And now that was being taken away, too. Except that for once, it wasn't his fault.

It had been his fault as he'd watched the blood pool like shadows onto the hardwood floors of his family home. It had been his fault for letting Itachi get away with it, for letting him live as long as he did, and, in the end, for killing him. It had been his fault that he had pushed everyone away. It had been his fault for all the tortures he had seen and gone through without a sound while with Orochimaru. It had all been his fault. Blood was on his hands.

But for once, this wasn't his doing. This had been taken from him. Even so, he couldn't find the anger, couldn't find the spite or fury. There was just…emptiness. Everything had settled like silt to the bottom of his stomach. He was lost.

Light trekked across the patch of ceiling in his view. He waited. Eventually, the door slid open again.

"Ah, good you're awake."

Sluggishly, Sasuke processed the words. Snapping back to himself, he pulled himself into a sitting position and glared at Tsunade. It felt comforting to do so. It was something familiar.

"Nani, don't look at me like that, Uchiha. You got yourself into this mess."

Sasuke frowned. He couldn't help the dreams or his response to them. Internally shrugging, he added it to his list. Pile on the blame. He could take it.

Sakura followed Tsunade into the room and then Naruto. He stood off in a corner not really settling his eyes on anything, but letting them roam about. Was he nervous? Sasuke scoffed. He wasn't actually going to kill Naruto and bury him under his floorboards, though, if he got too annoying, it would begin to look appealing.

Yes, yes, good. He was coming back. His old mask was coming back. He didn't need anyone. He would remove anyone who got in his way. But here, he faltered a bit. What way? He had already completed his objective.

Sasuke glared coldly at Naruto, who kept fidgeting in the corner as Sakura began to remove his IV for good, and Tsunade flicked machines off in preparation for him to leave.

Suddenly Naruto stopped wiggling and looked Sasuke straight in the eye. His eyes were a sober grey blue, before something seemed to snap a bit. He glared back at Sasuke, before returning to his nervous fidgeting.

"Alright, Sasuke, Naruto will be keeping an eye on you. He will be with you at all times, except of course for the obvious times such as bathing and such. He will prepare your meals, and make sure you are getting an appropriate amount of sleep." She moved to stand at the foot of the bed as Sakura went to dispose of the IV bag, tubing and needle.

Seeing that he was still glaring at the wall behind her head, Tsunade asked, "Is there anything you have to say about this?"

Sasuke shook his head. She already knew how he felt about it. There was no point in saying anymore on it.

"Actually, I have something, Ba-san."

Tsunade's brow twitched, but she nodded at Naruto to continue speaking.

"Will, I still get paid for this?" Naruto asked, bouncing on his toes a bit.

"Naruto, you can't be serious!" Sakura snapped, coming to stand at Tsunade's side. "Sasuke is your teammate! You shouldn't need compensation for—"

"Enough, Sakura." Tsunade said, stopping Sakura cold. "Yes, Naruto, you will be paid for this."

Naruto nodded a bit, seeming relieved.

Tsunade watched him a bit longer, and then turned back to Sasuke and placed his street clothes on the edge of the bed. He had been wearing set of hospital issue clothing. White trousers and shirt.

"Get dressed. Naruto will be waiting for you in the hall. From there he will escort you home."

With that, they all left the room. Sakura was the last to leave. She turned and smiled at Sasuke before sliding the door closed.

Quietly, Sasuke slipped back into his clothing. He pulled on his sandals, did up the straps, and then stood up from the side of the bed. He was ready for this. He didn't need anyone. Didn't care about anyone. He liked being alone. Naruto was only a nuisance, something to be tolerated while it lasted.

He stepped out into the hall.

"— is from five months ago! You need to report this to me, Naruto! They can't just not pay you for your services. You are a ninja of Konohagakure. Why do you let them get away with it? If you allow it, it could escalate, and then how will you pay rent or even eat?"

Tsunade stood at the end of the hall, screaming at a nonchalant Naruto. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

"Tsunade-sama, I am fine. I figure if I let them have their fun with this, they might be able to tolerate my presence a bit more." Naruto's voice was calm, even a bit serious.

Sasuke's other eyebrow rose to join the first.

Tsunade stared tensely at Naruto for a moment before sighing and muttering something Sasuke couldn't hear.

Sasuke slid the hospital room door closed, allowing it to make more noise than necessary so that his presence would be announced.

"Ah, Sasuke, you're ready." Tsunade said, walking back to where he stood. Naruto stayed at the end of the hall staring out a window.

Sasuke gave a curt nod.

"I want you to take care of yourself. You are a good ninja. I need your services." She said before turning and walking brusquely away. Passing Naruto, she handed him an envelope and an exasperated look before disappearing completely around the corner. Naruto watched her go, then stuffed the envelope in his pocket and turned to look at Sasuke down the hall. He was surprisingly quiet. He just stared.

Feeling uncomfortable, Sasuke glared. Defense mechanism.

"Are we going or what, dobe." Sasuke sneered. He hated himself for it, knowing he was such a false person, but he let it create the distance between them that he needed. He could do this. He might be lost but he would find his way.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The road stretched out in front of Sasuke, sun splashing down from above upon the hard packed earth. Squinting from the terrible glare, He waited for his eyes to adjust to the contrasting bright outdoor world after being under fluorescent lights for the past two days. Dust swirled up through the air, bending fingers around his ankles as he led the way down the street and away from the hospital. Naruto hung back behind him like a storm cloud brooding over the horizon. His mood was so palpable to Sasuke that he could taste it on the back of his tongue like electricity. Disgruntled with a pinch of pure anger.

They hadn't spoken a word to each other since leaving the linoleum lined halls, but Sasuke was handling the awkwardness well. Ever since coming back, the only thing that they had shared between each other was a lot of stale air, so he was used to it. Though, with out other people around for Naruto to be loud and chummy with, it was hard for Sasuke to get used to him being utterly silent.

Inside, Sasuke felt a small piece of himself recoil in anguish. He had created this mess and ruined all the potential and hope that Naruto might have once been for him. On his face, however, he wore the cold porcelain mask that was expected of him. Not even a glimmer of the discomfort or pain he was feeling from the rawness of his throat or throbbing of his head passed through his dark eyes.

Pressing air out of his nose, he pushed the discomfort in his chest down and ignored the looks shot his way. Some were of admiration, others of wary curiosity. None were hostile. But he noticed them turn to glares as they passed over his companion. Clenching his teeth, he ignored those, too. He was used to the way civilians and even some of the older ninja acted when Naruto was around, but it didn't piss him off any less. Why couldn't they mind their own damn business? So maybe he housed a nine tailed biju, big fucking whoop.

They continued to walk on in silence even as the village bustled about them. Sasuke felt overly uncomfortable around this quiet version of Naruto, but didn't say anything about it. He was convinced it would come off as weird if he showed any concern, and besides, he already knew what was bothering the other. Him.

Finally, the Uchiha district loomed up in front of them. This part of town was quiet and subdued in comparison to the market that lay at the heart of the village. Passing through the gates, Sasuke picked up his pace in apprehension. He felt chills roll down his spine as he was assaulted by the aura of the dead that seemed to cling to the broken foundations and ruins scattered about. It coiled around his heart and choked him. Forgetting for a moment about Naruto, he willed himself not to break out into a sprint.

Keeping his composure, he let out a small sigh of relief only once they had reached the other end of the compound. They'd wound their way through the labyrinth of abandoned establishments and houses, cutting through a band of overgrown foliage and trees to reach his own home. Naruto still hung behind him, but hadn't let the gap between them grow any in Sasuke's haste. He had merely increased his own pace, but not enough to catch up with him.

Irritated by all that had come to pass in the last couple days, by the way he was always so weak and messing things up, by the annoying way Naruto hung heavily on his mind, Sasuke yanked open the front door to his musty childhood home and strode in leaving it ajar for Naruto to follow. He kicked his sandals violently off where they smacked against the wall adjacent to the door and slid to the slick cold floor and, not bothering to see that Naruto made it into the house, he walked up the stairs and into his room, closing the door behind himself.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and closed his eyes, sensing Naruto's chakra as it stood idle in the foyer. He could also feel it as Naruto's awareness lightly touched on his own aura to place him in the house. This irritated Sasuke even more, but he contained himself knowing Naruto was still in contact with him and didn't want him to feel how his chakra would flare under his stress and frustration. He was only doing the job that had been assigned to him, and Sasuke knew it would not help anything in the slightest to get angry.

Finally he felt the tang of Naruto's chakra recede and watched as a clear green essence drifted from room to room. It was tinged with fire, orange and red, at the root where it was closest to Naruto's core, but on the whole it was a blue-green color.

Finally it settled on what Sasuke was sure was the living room and sat on what had to be the couch seeing as it was the only piece of furniture in the room besides a coffee table and a couple bookcases. Sasuke took the time to observe Naruto's aura in greater detail. As before it was blue-green with wisps of fiery opalescent colors near the center. It swirled about in thin ribbons. It seemed to curl up out of the fiery pit and cool to a blue as it left the abdomen area, wrapping and entwining around the forearms, calves, hands and fingers, extending outward everywhere. Now that Sasuke was really getting a look at it, it was even sewing itself into the fabric of the couch.

He had done this before, studying Naruto's chakra signature and aura as a boy to see if the secret to his boundless strength and power could be fathomed that way, but of course it had never borne results. Instead he had always gotten caught up in the intricate patterns the energy made as it languidly swept through his minds eye or crackled in the air. Of course, now it was different. It didn't feel the same or look the same. But that was to be expected.

While he had been gone, Naruto had spent all that time training. And he had been gone for a very long time. Now his aura had grown, become denser and more controlled. It changed easily and effortlessly with Naruto's moods and desires.

For now it seemed calm, though at times it did churn in agitated movements. Watching it ebb and flow, Sasuke felt himself grow drowsy, but he was unwilling to pull his attention away from the mesmerizing, mellifluous way Naruto's essence wrapped and coiled inward on itself. At some point he lowered himself backward onto the bed feeling warm and cozy. Slowly, he drifted off to sleep, body askew on top of his comforter and green pools of water set aflame dancing in behind his eyes.

Jolting awake in bed, Sasuke took a large intake of breath, as if he were surfacing from dark waters, only to wince in agony as his throat caught fire with pain. Agg, it seemed as if it only felt worse with time. He remembered back to when he had first woken up in the hospital, throwing up blood into the toilette. He had completely forgotten about that. He remembered a nurse or someone eventually coming in to help them. All that blood in his bile couldn't have been a good sign, but Tsunade hadn't mentioned anything about it. If it had been a nurse they would have told her…Then, who could it have been?

He remembered the colors black and blue, but in his disorientated version of the memory, he couldn't remember if the black was on the bottom or top. Maybe they had been wearing blue and had black hair. Or maybe the other way around…

At any rate, he wasn't sure if he could even talk without extreme pain. As troubling as that was, he suddenly jumped off his bed, faced with a bigger problem. Closing his eyes, he extended his awareness despite how dizzy he began to feel, searching for Naruto in the house. Surprisingly, Sasuke found his chakra signature still in the living room, swirling so slowly it almost appeared stagnant.

Finding his way down the stairs, he cautiously poked his head in through the doorway, for a moment worry flashing through his mind, only to spy Naruto's large frame sprawled across the faded couch. It was almost comical how poorly he fit on the narrow cushions. He breathed slowly in and out, one arm dragging the floor as it hung off the edge of a cushion. His hand was still holding a book. Picking it up gingerly, he recognized it as one of his own. In fact, it was notebook filled with his notes on jutsus and observations on chakra. There were even detailed drawings of Oto and a map of Orochimaru's now ruined underground labyrinth. He wasn't sure how to feel about the fact that Naruto had been reading it, but Sasuke felt ashamed at the state he had allowed Naruto to fall asleep in, and cast his eyes around for some sort of blanket. With all the time he had spent on the couch these past months, he was sure there was one around here somewhere. Finding a tan woven one behind the sofa, Sasuke carefully draped Naruto in it. How could he have not at least been cordial enough to offer him one of the many spare rooms upstairs?

Feeling his earlier frustration returning, he wandered into the kitchen, taking note of the time. He must have slept through the day, as it was now late afternoon. For a spell, Sasuke simply stood leaning against the kitchen counter, staring into space. His throat felt dry, but he was terrified to even bother trying to drink much less eat anything.

Finally deciding he absolutely loathed the feeling of being idle, he looked in once more at a still sleeping Naruto, before deciding to go train. He looked so pale and exhausted that Sasuke couldn't bring himself to wake him up. For all the effort he put into his appearance, he wasn't always so much of a bastard.

Walking back through the kitchen, he pushed open the paper screen doors that made up 2/3rds of the wall. It opened out onto a porch that wrapped around the house, which was in the tradition Japanese style. Despite how small and Spartan some of the traditional eastern styles were, they really treasured incorporating nature and its open spaces into the daily life.

The house was fairly old, and so a couple of the rice paper screens didn't run so smoothly on their tracks, but Sasuke always treated them carefully, always hearing of an echo of his mother's voice in his mind to do so.

Stepping out onto the porch, he took a deep breath of the dusty warm air. He had his own personal training area out back, so technically he would still be on his own property and not breaking the limits of his "house arrest".

Once out in the sunlight, Sasuke was grateful for his sleeveless uniform. Taking in a calming breath, he began to run through some calming katas before doing his usual stretching. Flipping his feet into the air, he carefully did a couple handstand pushups, just to stretch his shoulders out. Then, he held his balance for a moment before twisting back to his feet. It felt good to exercise like this despite how starved his body was beginning to feel.

Sitting down on the cool grass, he crossed his legs in a lotus position and closed his eyes. Slowly the feel of the sun on his face and arms faded and the beating of his heart drowned out the sound of the wind in the trees. Visualizing his chakra as a glowing ball beneath the approximate location of his sternum, Sasuke slowly began to distribute it to different chakra points in his body, carefully working it towards his hands. Once he felt the soft tingling in his fingertips, he began to mold the raw energy into a dense ball. He continued to make it denser and denser until he felt that his mental muscles were well stretched as well.

Finally, after a couple more stretches, he moved to stand in front of the standard martial arts dummy. Hitting one of the wooden limbs, he jumped over the one that began to swing towards his feet and dodged the one that swiped at his midsection. Slowly his momentum built up until he was a blur, dodging and leaping in quick maneuvers.

It felt good to fall into the well-practiced motions, like he was finally in control. But suddenly, his head felt light and his vision faded to a grainy smudge of darkness. Blinking to try and clear it, Sasuke never saw it as the wooden limb careened towards his head.

When he awoke, it was to the soft ministrations of a small tongue against his face. Opening his eyes, he felt pain slice through his head at the bright world the action revealed. Turning he saw the small orange tabby that lived with her litter in one of the abandoned buildings in the main square of the compound. Gently pushing her away, he sat up and gingerly dabbed his temple with a finger only to have it come away red. Cursing, he patted the little cat before wobbly getting to his feet.

Limping to the back porch, he sat down on the edge and carefully blinked. Crap, it hurt so bad. Breathing through his nose, he blinked a bit more before clambering to his feet and limping through the open screen door.

The little ginger streaked through Sasuke's legs, almost tripping him up and he frowned. That little cat almost never came near Sasuke's house. Watching as she disappeared around the corner, he headed for the bathroom.

Surprisingly, it didn't look as bad as it felt, just a small laceration on his temple and some small bruising. Rinsing it off with some cool water, he was about to put a butterfly bandage on it to keep the cut from healing awkwardly when none other than Naruto appeared behind his reflection in the mirror.

Exhausted blue-grey eyes took in what he was doing and narrowed.

"What did you do?"

Pursing his lips, Sasuke ignored his thumping heart, and scowled. He wasn't about to let Naruto know how he had let his own training dummy get the better of him.

"Nothing," he bit out, angrily smoothing the small bandage on his forehead and throwing the wrapper away. "It's none of your business." His eyes watered. He had forgotten about his throat. Frustrated, he tried to push his way past Naruto's massive frame in the doorway and failed.

Tanned hands gripped his shoulders and pushed him back.

"It is my business, as I have been assigned by the Hokage to watch over you," Naruto said through clenched teeth.

"I don't need a baby sitter," Sasuke ground out, ignoring his throat.

"Stop arguing, you shouldn't be talking, and also stop talking, because you're wrong," Naruto mumbled, prodding the bandage on Sasuke's head.

Hissing, Sasuke pushed his hands away and ducked under his arm, getting ready to lock himself up in his room. But Naruto grabbed his wrist.

"Nu uh, not so fast," he growled. "You have to eat and take your medicine."

Swinging around, Sasuke glared at Naruto.

"I don't need someone like you," Sasuke hissed, "to watch over me. In fact, I don't need you around at all, no body does." He felt so angry and frustrated he was seeing red.

Naruto's grip slackened at his words, and Sasuke took it as his chance to escape, jogging up the stairs and slamming the door, back pressed against it, breathing through his nose because his throat hurt too much.

Staring unseeingly at the floor, he was surprised to feel cold wetness roll down his cheeks. With shaking fingers, he brushed them hastily away, denying what they were, but new ones came to replace the ones he wiped away. With trembling shoulders, Sasuke slid to squat on the floor, sobbing quietly. He knew his words had injured Naruto and that he would never change. How could he have said that mean spiteful thing? He knew what it meant, what it would do, and yet he had done it anyway.

He would always be this way, alone and hated, and it was his entire fault.

AN: Aww, poor Sas-baby. He feels bad. But never fear, because it will get better!


	5. Chapter 5

AN: Kind of a boring chapter, I apologize. I'm so lame for not getting back to all of your encouraging reviews and I know this means I fail as a human being, but I don't think y'all understand just how lazy I can be. You're reviews are very much appreciated, and if you ever have a direct question or concern, or even an idea for the story, I promise I'll get back to you personally!

_Mmm, sunlight, go away. Wait, sunlight?_

Sasuke shifted beneath his sheets and rolled over, propping himself up on an elbow. The blinds were only partially closed over his window and outside he could see the warm light of day pouring over the tops of trees. A thin band shot straight across the head of his bed, and, as the sun had risen higher in the sky, conspired to disturb his sleep.

But Sasuke was still confused. He didn't understand how he'd ended up in bed. The last thing he could remember was…well feeling bad for being such an asshole. He refused to admit he had cried over it, but he had, curling up into a sad, pathetic little ball on the floor. Remembering that horrible break in his sanity as well as in his pride, he rubbed his sore eyes and frowned.

So then, how had he gotten here? Rolling the comforter back, he threw his legs over the edge of the bed and blinked groggily at the tatami mats covering the hardwood floor. Licking his chapped lips, he carefully swallowed and winced. His throat still hurt like a bitch. Standing on shaky legs, he shuffled awkwardly to the adjacent bathroom.

For a time he stood in front of the sink staring blankly at his reflection. The cut on his head had bloomed darker bruises around the bandage, but they were nothing compared to the purpled bruises clinging beneath his eyes. With all the dreamless sleeping he had been doing recently, he would have thought they didn't belong there but he still felt bone deep tired despite this.

Chewing his lip habitually, he combed his bangs back to inspect the cut a little better, tentatively removing the bandage. The cut didn't look as bad as the bruises had made him fear, but he could feel the beginning of a terrible headache starting to take root. After a little further prodding, he replaced the bandage and moved further into the bathroom to turn the shower on, letting the water warm up before removing his clothes.

Climbing in, he sighed in relief, letting his bones turn to jelly in appreciation of the scalding water running over his skin. He made sure to clean himself well, realizing he hadn't gotten a shower in two days, and hating the thought of being somehow soiled and dirty for an unnecessary extended amount of time. On missions, it was completely understandable and he didn't mind, but deliberately not taking one when time and a bathroom permitted it made it seem disgusting.

He somehow knew he had slept the rest of yesterday away, no matter how he had gotten into bed. He just didn't know what time of day it was now. And he also didn't know how he was going to deal with Naruto. He couldn't apologize. He never apologized. But he wanted to somehow make it up to him. He'd have to think on a discrete way to do that.

He began to extend his awareness with thoughts of trying to locate Naruto so he knew how to avoid him when he finished his shower and ventured downstairs, but just as soon as he thought he might have seen a flicker of blotchy dark purple on the backside of the house, his headache sent a burst of sharp icicles behind his eyes and he quickly withdrew, sucking in a deep breath.

Rubbing his temples for a moment, he dipped his head back under the stream of now warm water, rinsing out suds and conditioner before stepping out of the shower stall. Drawing the curtain closed behind him, he tousled his hair dry with a towel and moved to stand back in front of the sink.

Rubbing condensation off the mirror so his face was framed by fog and water droplets, Sasuke combed and parted his hair with his fingers until he felt it was presentable and moved back out into the bedroom.

Throwing the towel over the back of his desk chair to dry, he pulled open a drawer and grabbed a pair of briefs and black pants. The pants felt a little loose but they still clung acceptably well to his hips and so he chose to ignore it. Returning back to the bathroom, he scooped up his discarded clothes and threw them in the hamper before pulling another sleeveless shirt from the closet.

Yanking it on, he hesitantly opened his bedroom door and waited, listening for any sounds of his—he hated to admit it—caretaker. Upon hearing nothing, he slipped out of the doorway and soundlessly descended the stairs. From there he could hear a dull thwacking sound that led him through the foyer, down the entry hall and into the kitchen where he found Naruto repeatedly slamming his fists against a wooden dummy. The doors were open just as they had been the day before, and Sasuke stood numbed, watching as Naruto beat his fists to a pulp.

Suddenly growing angry, Sasuke grit his teeth and stomped out into the sunlight, ignoring the way the glare made his head throb. What was the dobe thinking, ruining his knuckles like that? What if they were suddenly called out on a mission? It would impair his ability to defend himself properly!

Naruto didn't even respond to the sound of his none too quiet approach as he tromped across the overgrown yard. Once he had crossed the distance, he didn't even think about what he was doing before he gripped the back of Naruto's damp tank top and yanked him away from the dummy. Twisting him around so he could glare into the other boys eyes, he isntead blinked in complete shock, all traces of his anger vanishing at the sight of the damp trails staining Naruto's scarred cheeks.

Tearing himself away, Naruto scrubbed at his face with the backs of his wrists, and glared up at Sasuke warily. Blood was left streaked across his cheek bone from his torn knuckles.

"What do you want?" Naruto snapped.

Quickly covering his shock, Sasuke tried to sound sarcastic and biting.

"I want you to stop staining my training dummy with your blood," He said, not quite sounding the way he wanted. And instantly whishing he hadn't said anything at all.

Naruto recoiled slightly, and, almost instantaneously, his eyes grew somber and chilly and the anger drained from the posture of his shoulders. He glanced behind him at the red scrapped onto the dark wood of the dummy, and suddenly Sasuke didn't give a shit about whether or not the dummy was stained or fucking on fire, if only he could remove the emptiness he saw beginning to fill Naruto from the ground up. But Sasuke did nothing.

"Sorry," Naruto said. His voice sounded fine, almost normal, but at the same time it wasn't. It lacked life, Sasuke realized, the very life he had come to love more than he had originally thought if the pain in his chest was anything to go by. And here he was smothering it out like a flame in the windowsill.

For the first time in what seemed forever, Sasuke felt unsure. As Naruto spared him one last barren glance and hurried past him, Sasuke remained standing in the yard, expression steeled into a stony stare. All his life, he had known what the next step was, had known what he did and didn't want. He had carried out his actions carefully, before under the watchful eye of his father, and know under the heavy weight of his own expectations.

After his parents death's, he had chosen to cast out the child he had once been, always depending on his brother to care for him and show him the way. Now, he would be strong, he thought, and if he could not even trust his own brother, whom he had loved so dearly, then he could trust no one.

But with this…thing he had become, he was hurting the very person that he could not live without. And he didn't know how to change. He didn't know if he even could.

Arg, why did Tsunade have to place Naruto as his fucking babysitter in the first place! Why? Sasuke glared at the sky, maybe in hopes that an answer would be handed to him, but none was forth coming. Casting his eyes to the grass reaching up towards his knees, he frowned.

His head really was starting to hurt. Like, extremely bad. Turning around, Sasuke walked to the porch and sat down. Covering his eyes with a hand to block out the glare of the sun, he was startled when a small head nuzzled his thigh.

Parting his fingers so he could peer through, he saw the small ginger that had woken him the day before, after the incident.

He hesitated for a moment before allowing himself to return the affection. He had had a small orange tabby when he had been younger. He remembered that his father had not been pleased, but mother had argued. And even Itachi had thought fondly of the small kitten.

But one day, Sasuke had come home to find no warm ball of fluff curled up on his bed. His mom had told him it had run away, and his dad had not said anything at all. But Itachi, he told him what had happened. His father had taken matters into his own hands. No, he hadn't killed the cat, but he had abandoned it somewhere out in the forest, never to be found again. Itachi had always told him the truth of things, even when he had been very young.

The fur beneath his fingers now was a very dark orange, not the same as the pale orange that he had known before. But the cat was very small. Sasuke would even say malnourished.

Picking up the little scraggily thing, he tucked it under his arm were it allowed itself to be manhandled and walked back into the kitchen. Seeing no Naruto that could observe his moment of charity, Sasuke set the cat on the counter and rummaged through a couple cabinets. He didn't see anything he thought a cat might like: a bag of rice, some packets of miso base, a bar of dark chocolate…ah, a can of tuna.

Standing on his tiptoes to snag it off the back of the top shelf, Sasuke eyed it carefully and then glanced at the cat. It was a known fact that cats liked fish, but he didn't really know if it was good for them or not.

"Umm, want this? It's all I've got." He rasped quietly, shaking the can slightly to emphasize what he was talking about. The cat looked up at him with her green eyes and mewed, padding across the counter to nudge Sasuke's wrist.

Shrugging, he took that as a yes.

Popping the tab on the can open, he took a random chopstick out of the drawer and drained some of the water down the sink before poking the fish onto a saucer and placing it beside the cat on the counter.

The little ginger sniffed the plate tentatively, and Sasuke didn't blame her. It didn't look very appetizing to him either. But she carefully liked the tuna before beginning to chomp on the chunky stuff. Watching the cat munch happily on the canned fish, Sasuke allowed himself to smirk slightly before walking to the table in the middle of the sunny kitchen and sitting down. His head was still throbbing dully.

Gently, he placed his forehead on the cool pressed wood. For a moment, he felt himself beginning to fade out when he heard a creak behind him.

"Hey, hey, not so fast or you'll get sick little one."

Sasuke jumped, but didn't lift his head from the table. He suddenly felt too tired. And the sun felt really good on the back of his neck and his bare arms. He hadn't known he had felt so cold.

"Hey, Sasuke, wake up. You have to eat something and take your medicine." The voice came from right behind him, startling Sasuke again but he refused to let him self jump this time. Finally lifting his head from the table, Sasuke glared behind him at Naruto, but secretly he was looking for any sign of damage.

He looked fine enough, with the usual expression he usually reserved for him, one of disdain, maybe even disgust, but his hands were now wrapped in white bandages. Naruto just rolled his eyes halfheartedly at his glare and moved to rummage through his fridge.

"God, you really have nothing in here," he mumbled, voice muffled by the fridge door. "We'll have to go to the store in a bit." Naruto straightened and turned to look at Sasuke. Sasuke just squinted at him, lifting an eyebrow, wondering what he saw,

"You look like shit."

Well, that answered that. Sasuke decided to play it cool, acting like it didn't affect him. He just mimicked Naruto, rolling his eyes and shrugging his shoulders.

Naruto huffed, and walked across the kitchen to pull a cup out of the cabinet, stroking the cat as he passed. Sasuke watched as he also grabbed a little green bottle.

Filling the cup up, Naruto unstopped the bottle, exposing a dropper, and added exactly three clear drops to the glass. Then he walked back to Sasuke, and stared down at him for a moment before setting the glass in front of him.

"Drink that," he said. "All of it." He said it nice enough, but his tone left no room for argument.

Sasuke peered into the clear liquid, skeptical. "What did you just put in it?"

Naruto shrugged as he sat down to the left of Sasuke. "Just something Tsunade made. I don't really now what's in it. It's supposed to help the pain in your throat. There is also another vial of stuff she made to help you sleep. "

Sasuke gave him a look, not liking the idea of being sedated again after last time. He had been sleeping without dreams for the past couple times, but he knew it wasn't going to last forever.

Naruto must have known exactly what he was worrying about because he chuckled and shook his head. "Don't worry so much, Tsunade said it's not strong at all. It's just a push in the right direction.

"Hn," Sasuke grunted, not liking that Naruto had seen right through him. And what was so amusing about it anyway?

He propped his chin in his hand, still unwilling to down the glass of water. He turned it in half circles on the table, watching as it made a damp ring on the tabletop.

"Come on Sasuke, stop stalling. We still have to go to the store." Naruto said it in a bored tone, but his leg was jiggling up and down under the table in his usual show of impatience.

Sasuke gripped the glass in his hand, mentally preparing himself for the pain he knew was coming, but that fucking leg was really bothering him. Not even realizing, he put his hand Naruto's knee, glaring daggers at him. His head was really pounding now.

"Stop doing that." He growled.

Naruto immediately stopped, getting up from the table all together.

"Just drink it." He said, moving away. Sasuke put his hand back on the table, staring almost disinterestedly at it. What had he just done? He couldn't even remember thinking that through. Glancing over his shoulder, he was greeted with Naruto's back as he petted the ginger, who was now gleefully licking her lips and purring under the dobe's touch.

Frowning deeply, Sasuke rubbed his temple and picked the glass up, throwing back all its contents as fast as he could. It burnt like hell and left a metallic aftertaste, so much so that he almost felt like throwing up, but he held in the moan of pain he wanted to release. Standing up, he put the cup in the sink and waited for Naruto to notice he was ready. His throat didn't feel up to anymore talk for the day and Naruto didn't seem to like his touch too much, either, so that was the only option left to him.

Finally Naruto looked to him.

"Ready?" He asked. When Sasuke didn't do anything but stare, Naruto shrugged and started to walk to the front of the house. Sasuke followed.

AN: WTF, why is this ending so lame…ugg, I need to read something good to get my levels up again. Help?


End file.
